A curious double-bill at Arts House this July starts with SINK, a percussive eruption; and then descends into a subterranean gardening club, Mulch Underground.
“SINK will refresh your senses with techno that skews binary frameworks, before Mulch Underground’s interactive botanical installation welcomes you in for drinks, tunes and a play in the compost,” said Arts House Artistic Director, Emily Sexton.
Underground music icon Simona Castricum combines her talents with the light and projection sorcery of Carla Zimbler to create SINK – a live sonic experience of uncommon depth.
SINK reinvents the stadium techno experience and strips it back to an intimate encounter. It is a music installation with loud percussive drumming, electronic music, sudden intense noises, flashing lights, smoke effects, haze and lasers.
As a queer percussive and visual explosion, SINK is a portal that destabilises the binary frameworks in an urban space and reveals the queer virtues of belonging and catharsis, highlighting that gender nonconforming perspectives are important contributors to our cultural and urban landscape.
Under a grand installation of hanging white ropes that reflect Zimbler’s mood-altering projections, Castricum will command the space with a full drum set and a suite of percussion machines to create a fluid environment using tactics of garble and feedback.
Following the heady thrills of SINK, audiences will head downstairs to Mulch Underground – a multi-sensorial performance installation grown by Kelping: Lichen Kelp, Dylan Martorell, Jason Hood and Benjamin Hancock.
Mulch Underground is an enchanting bar and club embroiled in all things botanical. It’s an interactive fitout complete with sounds of photo synthesizers, flower choirs and playable frozen compost sculptures while performers unfurl and push towards the surface.
Kelping are a collaborative extension of Lichen Kelp’s performance chemistry practice. Their shows combine Lichen Kelp’s electronic ikebana and interactive ice sculptures with Dylan Martorell’s immersive soundscapes and seminal costumes, and dance and movement by Benjamin Hancock and Jason Hood.
Mulch Underground is a chilled-out space to cross-pollinate with a drink on the dance!loor. Come dressed in florals, gardening clothes or just wear something plain dirty.
Double Bill: SINK + Mulch Underground
Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
Performances: 16 – 17 July 2021
Information and Bookings: www.artshouse.com.au
Image: Mulch Underground: a multicoloured collage with a woman with long brown hair in a silver coat and a person with long blond hair extending their arm – image by Dylan Martorell